Paper 3346

Abstract

Nouns appearing as attributive modifiers of adjectives in English have been a largely understudied phenomenon. This paper presents evidence that such constructions, e.g., Usain Bolt fast, are very productive, appearing with proper nouns, bare nouns, definite DPs, and more complex noun phrases as the modifier. Further, this paper discusses two of the different readings these constructions can have: a degree reading and a dimension reading. The degree reading is close but not equivalent to the equative; Mary is Usain Bolt fast. The dimension reading selects a new dimension on which the comparison is on; I always wanted to be famous... but not Osama Bin Laden famous.